Hope Murdoch Steadman: Excuse me, but Janey would like to see her aunt Melissa. Immediately. Melissa Steadman: Immediately? Oh, God! What a pushy kid. All right, I'm coming. Start getting cute! [Michael looks at Hope, seeing her expression. It has only been a week since her miscarriage] Michael Steadman: [hugging her, reassuring] Okay.

Melissa Steadman: [going through some old clothes with Ellyn] I can't throw anything out. Ellyn Warren: You gotta be ruthless. Not everything old has value, Melissa. Some things are just old. You and I, for example, are old and have value. These cookies... 'Good until June of '87'? Are merely old.

Melissa Steadman: She was never, you know, your standard perfect pie-crust grandma. I used to go to her store after school? She'd drop whatever she was doing. We'd go for ice cream or we'd go for a walk. Or she'd say, 'C'mon, let's get outta here. We'll go to the movies and hit the Chinaman. My treat.' I was fat. I looked like uh... Little Lotta. I didn't have any friends. But she was my friend. Hope Murdoch Steadman: [putting a reassuring arm across Melissa's shoulders] She'll be okay. Melissa Steadman: [changing the subject, eyeing the dessert fixings] This is dessert? Make Your Own Sundae? You're reading Readbook again, Hope. Hope Murdoch Steadman: I'm a busy woman. You want wedding cake? Get married. [Michael makes a sympathetic frown as he and Nancy listen to their exchange fondly] Melissa Steadman: [to them] Help yourself.

Ellyn Warren: [considering Melissa's suit and buttoning up the coat] Great. Uh, do you have jury duty or something? Melissa Steadman: No, I have to go to my grandmother's store. I told her I'd work there for a few days till she gets back on her feet. Ellyn Warren: Oh, that's nice. Is she okay? Melissa Steadman: Oh, yeah. She's fine. I'm completely wiped out. Ellyn Warren: [checking Melissa's 'look' and deciding to unbutton the jacket again] No... Melissa Steadman: I was up with her all last night because I was over there. Ellyn Warren: Oh, God. Melissa Steadman: [standing back, about the jacket] Open? Ellyn Warren: [looking her over, approving] Open.

Melissa Steadman: Ellyn, listen. Uhm. A lot of stuff's been coming up for me lately. Ellyn Warren: Oh, I know. It must be really hard with your family and all, huh? Melissa Steadman: Well, you know, it really has to do with your project. Ellyn Warren: Oh, that's okay. Just show me what you did the other day. Melissa Steadman: Well, see, it's about the prints, I didn't have time to print. Ellyn Warren: [clearly displeased] Oh. Okay. Melissa Steadman: Well, I told you about last night, right? Ellyn Warren: No, no. I know, I know, I know. Melissa Steadman: It's not about last night... Ellyn Warren: [a bit gruffly] Well, do you have time to do it now? Melissa Steadman: [pacing nervously] No. Uhm. It's just that, well, they moved the magazine's deadline up. You know, the piece I was doing? So I had to prep the shoot, do the shoot, get the proofs done, turn them in... so I haven't had time to print, but I called Russel to see if he could do it. Ellyn Warren: When can he do it? Melissa Steadman: Well, he can do it next week, if that's not too late. I mean, if that's all right. Ellyn Warren: Uhm. I just have to think. Melissa Steadman: And if it's not, just say the world, and I'll... Ellyn Warren: No, I just have to think... Ellyn Warren: [after a clear moment of stress, looking up and smiling] Yeah. It's all right. Because, uh, this is exactly what I've been trying to work on in my therapy. This is the kind of thing that would get me into trouble before, you know? Not being able to 'roll with the punches' as it were? Melissa Steadman: Well, if it's not, you know, I can come home tonight. I can do it tonight, you know? I could stay up late and do it. Ellyn Warren: No, no, it's really... Melissa... well... why didn't you just say 'no'? Melissa Steadman: I don't know. Melissa Steadman: [thinking about it] You're my friend. I didn't want to let you down.

Michael Steadman: Oh, Melissa. I don't know how you do it. It's like you're totally honest with everybody but your family. Then you just, unzip your skin, hang it next to Rose's mink, and out steps this completely different person, who isn't you. Melissa Steadman: Who is she then? Michael Steadman: She's like this really good girl. Who doesn't see the truth. Melissa Steadman: And what is that? Michael Steadman: There's this old bat, sitting on a throne, running everybody's life, only now she can't even run her own. But she yells 'limbo' and the whole room starts dancing. I mean, look at your mom. Look at... You gotta face her, Melissa. Worse thing that can happen, she turns you to stone, right? Right? [Melissa leaves without saying anything. But she stops to look at Michael through his office window. He blows her a kiss and waves. She blows him a kiss and waves back]

Melissa Steadman: Nana, really. I'd really rather talk here. Rose Waldman: Okay. Go on, go on. Talk, talk. Melissa Steadman: Nana, what you want me to do. What you've offered me. It's incredible! The store. It's your life. I'll always be grateful that you wanted me to take it, that you saw me that way. Rose Waldman: Melissa. I see you in this business with me. Till I die, and then it's yours. I was rich a long time ago. I could have stopped, but I didn't. I had to get this ready to give to someone. Melissa Steadman: But you've given me so much already. How can I ever thank you? Rose Waldman: I don't want you to thank me. I want to help you. Melissa Steadman: I don't need you to help me. Rose Waldman: Yes, you do. I know what's good for you. Melissa Steadman: Nana, the store, it's... I wouldn't be happy. It's not my life. Rose Waldman: [laughing sarcastically] Your life? What's your life? You snap a few pictures, you live like a bum, you dress like a freak. Do you have a meaningful relationship? A husband? A family? Oh. You want to be free. Independent. Great! But you don't fool me, Melissa. You never have. I wouldn't be who I am if I didn't know what is best for the people I love! Melissa Steadman: You don't know what's best for me. Rose Waldman: Yes I do. Melissa Steadman: [having had enough] You didn't do this for me, Rose. You did it for you. You don't know me. You've never known me. You never have. You can have this. All of it! I love you, Nana. But you can't have me! Rose Waldman: [stopping Melissa on her way out] Okay. Tomorrow I change my Will. And you'll have nothing. But you'll be happy, and I want you to be happy. I'll be dead, and you'll have nothing! Do you hear me, Melissa? Melissa! Melissa! Melissa...!

Melissa Steadman: [responding to the knock at the door] Who is it? Elaine Steadman: It's me. [Elaine enters a darkened loft. Her voice comes from the dark] Elaine Steadman: What are you doing? You're boycotting the electric company?

Melissa Steadman: I told her I didn't want the store. She had a heart attack. Elaine Steadman: Honey, the last three months have been one long heart attack. [Melissa falls back on her bed to stare at the ceiling] Elaine Steadman: Melissa? Melissa, what happened tonight has nothing to do with you. Melissa Steadman: But I still feel like it's my fault. Elaine Steadman: Because you stood up for yourself? Melissa Steadman: [sitting back up] I always knew one day we'd have to deal with the store. I used to think if all else failed that, you know, I could fall back on that. But all else has failed lots of times and... it's just that the store isn't my life. Elaine Steadman: Melissa, it's just not worth anything anymore. It's like a... it's like an old delicatessen where you go to have the waiters insult you. Daddy's been trying to get her to sell it for years. Melissa Steadman: So why did she pick me? Why didn't she give it to you? Elaine Steadman: I never gave her the chance. I never wanted it. I had Daddy. I had you. I never actually said 'no' to her. I still can't. Melissa, sometimes I'm just amazed at your courage. Elaine Steadman: [Elaine pulls out a pack of cigarettes. She looks at her daughter's expression] Don't tell Nana. She thinks I've stopped. Melissa Steadman: [going over] Can I have one? Elaine Steadman: I thought you stopped. Melissa Steadman: I did. Elaine Steadman: [handing her daughter a cigarette, disappointed] Oh, sweetheart. [the two light up and smoke for a moment] Elaine Steadman: What are we going to do about her? Melissa Steadman: Do you realize this is the first time you're asking me instead of telling me? Elaine Steadman: Really? [the two continue to smoke in unison] Elaine Steadman: So, what should we do about her? Melissa Steadman: Beats me. Elaine Steadman: [smiling] See? that's why I never asked you.

Elaine Steadman: What if something really happens to her? Melissa Steadman: Then we'll deal with it. Elaine Steadman: [stamping out her cigarette] I gotta go. I got six things to get for her. That traffic's gonna be murder. Melissa Steadman: [she gets up to leave, stopping at the door to turn back] You know, I was thinking. Maybe you should have taken the store. Melissa Steadman: Why? Elaine Steadman: Then you could afford to buy another earring. [the two exchange a sweet smile] Melissa Steadman: Mom? [Elaine Steadman turns back to look at her daughter] Melissa Steadman: I love you. [Elaine nods and heads out. Melissa gets up and removes her coat. She goes over and picks up a paint-roller and begins to paint the huge loading dock door of her loft]

Nancy Krieger Weston: C'mon, you're telling me we can't get back to the car and there's no phone? Oh, man, Ethan is gonna go nuts. We have gotta figure out a way to get out of here. Hope Murdoch Steadman: Oh, they'll figure it out. Nancy Krieger Weston: You know what they're going to figure out? That we're dead on the highway is what they're going to figure out. Oh, this is so weird. Ellyn Warren: Oh, you guys, I am so sorry. This is all my fault and I am really sorry. Hope Murdoch Steadman: It's not your fault. Ellyn Warren: Of course it's my fault. My God, I wouldn't go in the cave, I get us lost, now we can't even get back tonight. You're all mad, and I am really really sorry. Nancy Krieger Weston: No, no, it's not that we're not mad, it's just something that happened. Ellyn Warren: You should be mad. My God, I'm a jerk. Don't treat me like I'm some invalid child. Melissa Steadman: [setting down hiking pack gruffly] Listen. Ellyn. We know where we are. Now we can either camp out here tonight and wait until the cave opens in the morning, or we can scream at you. Which do you want? Ellyn Warren: I just want you to be honest with me, okay? Melissa Steadman: Okay. It's your fault. Does that make you feel better?

Susannah Hart: You all had so much more of him. More time. More memories. I feel cheated. And, uhm, I think a part of me hates you for it. All of you. It's wrong. It'll change. But right now... Melissa Steadman: You shouldn't have come up here telling me he loved me. I mean, we should have all been huddled around you saying you how much he loved you. He did love you. Really. I think more than anything. Gary can't lie. He's transparent when it comes to that. There's no way he can hide anything. He gets that idiotic grin on his face... [realizing] Melissa Steadman: ... present tense. Susannah Hart: I'm so angry at him. He changed everything in my life. I used to know exactly what I wanted and how to get it. But Gary... I started to become this other person with him. Now? What am I going to do now? He changes you then he goes. Melissa Steadman: [shaking her head] You changed him.

Michael Steadman: The clock over the door stood at 2.43. Harrison watched the progress of the minutes. The second hand moved with the thoughtlessness of an underwater plant, caught in a lethargic current. Harrison carefully arranged himself on the stool and listened to the sad, tubercular sighing of the coffee urn. Once again his eyes were drawn back to the clock. Ivy Dunbar: [as a customer in the café Michael is writing about] Well, this isn't very interesting, is it? Melissa Steadman: [as waitress] I don't understand. Michael used to be very imaginative. Ivy Dunbar: I'm very disappointed. It lacks focus, intent, detail. Gary Shepherd: [as customer reading a newspaper with no print on it] I'll say. Look at this. He's got me reading a blank newspaper!